Member Story:
“Facing Life-Threatening Multiple Myeloma”

I’m a busy 41-year old senior executive in good general health — or so I thought. In November, 2008, when a routine blood test for cholesterol revealed active multiple myeloma — a cancer with a five-year life expectancy of 34% — I knew I was in for the fight of my life.

PinnacleCare is a tremendous ally in both practical and psychological terms. I would not have wanted to take on this fight without them.

Advice from a friend led me to PinnacleCare, and after several consultations including a visit with their Chief Medical Officer, I knew that I had found an invaluable ally for my team. From coordinating multiple consults with the top doctors on the subject; to performing customized analyses at my request about the efficacy of various treatments undergone at different cancer centers across the country; to ensuring my medical records and bone marrow slides were sent everywhere in advance of my arrival and collected for my own review; to assisting with prescriptions for the 15+ medications I was on; PinnacleCare was a critical part of organizing my fight and making sure I was on top of it.

The work they did helped both me and my wife — who was my caregiver during six months of difficult treatment — to focus on my disease instead of logistics. But beyond efficiency, the level of genuine care and support that exists from the CEO of PinnacleCare to each health advisor with whom I have worked is truly touching. About one of the only things I recall from an 18-day hospital stay on high-dose synthetic morphine was receiving a care package filled with positivity and empathy — including homemade items and a handwritten note from a staffer about her young son’s triumph over leukemia. While PinnacleCare is not inexpensive, I can say for one facing a life-threatening diagnosis, they are a tremendous ally in both practical and psychological terms. I would not have wanted to take on this fight without them.

Now that I have returned to work, PinnacleCare’s support is critical. They handle the details of medical appointments, prescriptions, keeping my medical records up-to-date and other health issues so I can focus on a busy work and travel schedule. If PinnacleCare wasn’t part of my team, making the transition back to work would have been much more stressful and time-consuming. I certainly would not have been able to give my full attention and energy to work.

With my primary care complete and three years of maintenance therapy underway, a cure looks likely, if not certain. PinnacleCare remains by my side. Their help and support has been invaluable and I cannot recommend them highly enough.

The firm is now allowing its entire adviser force to refer clients to PinnacleCare, which also created a new elder-care assessment… Many advisers feel that dealing with elder-care issues isn’t their responsibility. But as clients age, “you’re going to be doing this whether you want to or not.”

In a time of serious illness, these advocates can help research new treatments that doctors may not know a lot about, cut through the medical bureaucracy, and perhaps help frame medical decisions more objectively than stressed out patients and their family members. Advocates are not just there to help you heal but also to keep you healthy.

— Anne Tergesen, “Your Guide to the Medical Maze”

Consider hiring a private patient advocate… It could help get you the care you need.

— Judy Foreman, “For when a doctor and a nurse just aren’t enough”

“Pinnacle provided me with a name and with research that said, ‘here’s how other people are going it, and here’s who has the most long-term survivors, and here are their stories.’ What I got from that was hope. Not a bad return on investment.”

— Gregory Taggart, “Deluxe Health Care”

“I always thought the medical staff would return phone calls, answer questions and discuss treatment plans and options. I was wrong.” So the family turned to…PinnacleCare for help. Within one day, a doctor on the company’s staff reviewed her mother’s medical records and set up a conference call with a neurosurgeon from Johns Hopkins and a neurologist from Rush University Medical Center, who agreed to take on the case. “We needed someone on our side.”